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Edited to Add: SparkPlay is no longer in business.
When the folks over at SparkPlay contacted me and asked if I wanted to review a pack, I jumped at the chance. Being winter and all, we are always looking for new and fun indoor activities.
In case you aren’t familiar with them, SparkPlay “is an out of the box experience designed for children aged 3 to 7 and comes with supplies for one parent and child to play”. If you have more than one child, you can add their “Sibling Solution” to get more materials.
I hadn’t heard much about SparkPlay so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was happy to open the box and see that it was packed with a ton of goodies I knew L would go crazy for! Each month has a different theme and we received the “Mad Scientist” theme, which I knew L was going to love.
Unlike lots of the other subscription boxes, SparkPlay’s “information cards” are online. I’ll admit I was totally confused by this at first and didn’t know what to do. I finally figured out that I needed to go online in the ParentHub and get what I needed. This was a total error on my part as this information was included in the box and in an e-mail. And that is why you need to read the instructions my friends.
The following projects were included:
~Awesome Apron: The idea was to decorate the apron, which L wasn’t overly into. In fact, I was surprised he even put it on. However, once he learned there were spots for his mad scientist test tubes in there, he was all over it and could not get that thing on fast enough.
~Glasses Project: All good mad scientists need glasses right? These glasses are made out of nothing more than pipe cleaners. Seriously. I was shocked that they were as easy to make as the directions said they’d be. L couldn’t stop laughing at himself in the mirror in them.
~Gloppity Goop Powder: When mixed with water, Gloppity Goop powder becomes a very strange concoction. No matter what you do to it, it always bounces right back to shape. L and I were fascinated. I believe that it’s just corn starch (I think), but I’ve never seen it behave this way. Very cool indeed.
~Potion Powder: OMG, I saved the best for last. The pack also came with potion powder, aka, Kool-Aid. I thought L’s head was going to pop off he was so excited to see Kool-Aid. We must have spent a good hour mixing the powders, adding water, and well, drinking Kool-Aid. I’d say that the day we did this was one of the best days L has had all winter. Every time we are at the store, he’s all can we get some more of that potion….. Ha! And don’t worry, we saved our test tubes!
Ohh, and the pack also came with a mad scientist wig that I talked L into trying on, but he told me NOT to send the picture of him in it to anyone. He said he looked ridiculous. I thought he looked like Cher. Luckily WB doesn’t care who sees him looking silly, so he agreed to model it.
I should also mention that the SparkPlay pack comes with a drawstring bag, so when you are done playing for the day, you can put everything in the bag, store it away and pull it out next time you want to play. I love this idea! I need to think of a way to label it so that I don’t have to open it to see what pack is in there you know?
I gotta tell you, we loved SparkPlay! L and I had a great time playing with everything and it really did encourage us to play together instead of him doing one thing and me doing another.
SparkPlay is $29.99/month, which is right in line with a lot of the other kid monthly subscription boxes and totally worth it in my opinion. I’m not saying you’ll never hear “I’m bored” again, but helpfully you’ll hear it less.
What do you think of SparkPlay? If you are interested in learning more or subscribing, click here. And, it just happens to be your lucky day, because the nice people over at SparkPlay want to send one of you guys a box! Woot woot! Just enter below and maybe you’ll be the winner!
